Papua torture footage deemed authentic

An investigating media organisation which received the video footage of a Papuan being tortured believes the images are authentic.

Australia based West Papua Media aims to get news about activities in the Indonesian province to a wider international audience.

Activist and editor, Nick Chesterfield, says they have confirmed the identity of the Papuans shown as Tunaliwor Kiwo, who remains missing and Telangga Gire, who is in hiding.

He says his organisation believes the footage involves members of the Indonesian military's strategic service and is likely to have been taken by one of the soldiers:

"''It's common for footage like this to be passed around security forces as a trophy. We've seen a long and very gruesome history of this both in West Papua and East Timor. What is most likely, but of course we can't say for sure, is that somewhere along the line a member of the security forces said this is not right and leaked it."

Nick Chesterfield says earlier leaked video showed a man with his abdomen split open, but the significance of the latest images is that they show the injuries being inflicted as part of an interrogation.